A trip to Saratoga Race Course

Hubby and I took a trip the second half of this past week to upstate New York. Hubby is a huge horse racing fan and we hadn't been to Saratoga Race Course since before the pandemic. It is about a 3 1/2 hour drive from our home on Long Island without traffic. On Wednesday we drove to our hotel about 20 minutes from Saratoga and then met with an old high school friend of Hubby who lives up there. We wanted to explore the idea of possibly buying a home to retire to in the future. Hubby's friend and her husband had a wealth of information and we saw a couple of new housing developments. Not sure that this is truly the place where we want to be, but it was a start in our search. We aren't in any hurry. We enjoyed a pleasant dinner with them at a local restaurant that first evening.

On Thursday, we headed for the Race Course. The weather was perfect and the racetrack is beautiful. 

The view of the tote board from one of our many change of seats throughout the day.

We would move in and out of the building and find different places to sit. Here we are on the benches facing the track. The grandstand is behind us.

Within the grandstand are betting windows, concession stands and bars. Behind the grandstand there are more betting windows, concession stands and bars as well as pretty flowers and picnic areas.

We are not big bettors, but we did put wagers on almost all the races. Hubby had a winning day, I did not. That night we went to a local restaurant, Nove in Wilton, NY. This is a great Italian restaurant that we have visited previously. We found ourselves seated next to the owner and spoke to him briefly. Our meal was delicious as usual. 

On Friday, we enjoyed breakfast for the second day in a row at The Ugly Rooster in Malta, NY. The first day I had Nick's Famous French Toast with Strawberries. The pastry cream that comes on it was a little too much for me, but on the whole it was delicious. Hubby had two eggs and toast. That is his usual breakfast when we eat out. I joined him in that breakfast on Friday. The hashbrown potatoes that come with it are delicious.

Our betting and winning at the Race Course on Friday was much the same as the previous day. We left for home after the 8th race. We listened to the remaining races in the car on the way. I was glad we left when we did as there was an accident on the track right in front of the grandstand that I certainly would not have wanted to see. All in all it was a nice few days away.

I did bring my Prairie Schooler Santa with me to work on in the car, but I only added a few stitches. 

My daughter has yet to decide on which arrangement she would like for her quilt. These are the other two possibilities that I sent her based on the tweak she requested.

I personally like this second one as the extra stars will definitely land on the top of the bed.

Since I was not sewing together the Log Cabin Star quilt, I decided at the beginning of the week to spend some time fussy cutting more 3 1/2" squares for my I-Spy quilts.

 I now have hedgehogs, squirrels, roller skates, bicycles, and Sesame Street blocks cut out. So far I have cut 31 sets of 2 blocks for each quilt. That means 62 of 120 blocks are cut for each. I still have a few more different fabrics to cut, but I think I may go back and just cut 1 or 2 more from some of the previous fabrics so that I don't have to buy any more. Three blocks each of 40 fabrics gets me to the right number. Several of these fabrics, I probably would not use for anything other than these quilts. Most of the fabrics are fat quarters or quarter yard cuts. 

I am joining Kathy for some Slow Sunday Stitching. Pop on over to her site to see what other bloggers are stitching.

Thanks for stopping by!